December 3, 2005

WHILE CHARLES H. Best (1899 to 1978) may be famous as a co-discoverer of insulin, he also has other feathers in his hat. During his tenure as the director of the Banting and Best Institute, he investigated the properties of heparin, and made it available as an effective anti-coagulant agent — a blood thinner. He was fortunate to have worked with Banting even before he began his long and productive medical career as a research scientist.

With a doctor as father, Best’s interest in medicine was natural. In his younger days, he would often accompany his father on visits to his patients. Once he completed high school, he initially opted for liberal arts, but switched to physiology after his return from World War 1. This one decision decided the course of his professional life.

While at the University of Toronto, where he was learning physiology, Best carried out research on sugars and eventually graduated with doctorates in medicine and physiology. Incidentally, his work with Banting was his summer job, which brought him his greatest feat at the age of 22.

Besides the will to succeed, discovering insulin was also very significant to Best since one of his favourite aunts had died of diabetes. It should not come as a surprise that Best was one of the pioneers in the field of medicine. The physiologist is a direct descendant of Major William Best, one of the founders of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1749. Unfortunately, he had to struggle for a citizenship of the country pioneered by his forefathers. Eventually in 1924 an affidavit was signed by his father, Dr Herbert Huestis Best, who demanded the right to claim Canadian citizenship for his son.

He was not considered for the Nobel Prize for his contribution to the discovery of insulin, and it was eventually Banting who felt that he should have been recognized and gave him half the share of his award.

After Banting’s death, Best continued with his productive career. Besides holding an influential position in the Banting and Best Institute, he was an adviser to the medical research committee of the UN’s World Health Organization.

Best’s work proved to be milestones in medical history. Dr Norbert Freinkel once called Charles Best “a beacon of civilization, typifying the true goals of science and medicine —improving and saving human lives”.

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